


Nefarious Creature

by CookieDoughMe



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: M/M, Oral Sex, Pre-Series, Pre-Troubles, Smut that grew a plot, but there is lots of smut first, duke has handcuffs, duke takes control, it all gets a bit emotional at the end, nathan lets him, no existing relationship, nothing anal though they kind of talk about it, reference to season two plot-lines, seriously - there is no happy ending, smut followed by angst, some dubious consent in that nathan gets a bit more than he was expecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 08:16:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11032248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieDoughMe/pseuds/CookieDoughMe
Summary: “No, Nate. That’s not how this works. You need a specific safe word, something incongruous like ... ‘marshmallow’ or ‘bubblegum’.”This combines some smutty ‘wouldn’t it be fun to see Duke tie Nathan up’ thoughts, with inspiration from Lucas’ “nefarious creature” comment inthis interviewand Nathan and Duke’s conversation in 5B about when they used to play pool.Set mostly pre-series and pre-troubles, but references some detail from Season Two and also takes a brief look at a possible version of how things might have gone later on.





	1. Pool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duke Crocker is not to be trusted. But then, his company does have some compensations.

It had been a long day, a long week; a long year. Working with his father (with the Chief), was turning out to be even more frustrating than he’d thought it would be. Nothing was ever good enough and sometimes Nathan had to admit he had a point. The criminal element of Haven was not exactly shaking in its boots since he’d started work.

Case in point? Here he was, playing pool with Duke Crocker. The guy had a reputation as one of Haven’s foremost career criminals and Nathan had to wonder what hanging out with him was doing to whatever reputation he had himself.

But Duke was a good pool player. And, though Nathan might have struggled to admit this to himself, there was something pleasantly distracting about watching him move around the table, or lean over it to take his shot. So they played pool, and they drank, and they talked; usually in that order. Most times, they were competitive enough that they kept playing as they drank, neither willing to let the other win the final game, and the conversation was incidental.

Tonight though was the kind of evening where their competitiveness spilled over into their drinking and they gave up on the pool to talk at each other instead. Later, Nathan would realise that he’d had just one drink too many. Not enough to make a real idiot of himself, not enough to make him forget anything. But just enough to make him talk a little too easily; just enough that he didn’t stop to think through the implications or consequences of what he was saying.

And so as Duke sat across from him, showing just enough interest to keep him talking, and just enough indifference that it didn’t seem like a big deal, Nathan talked; about feeling stuck in his life, about the difficulties of working for his father, and particularly about his love life. Or more specifically, about his entire lack of a love life.

-

“And I don’t even know what … I mean, I got talking to a woman in here last week. Beautiful woman, and maybe she was even interested, but I don't … Part of me wanted to just push her up against a wall and rip her clothes off, but …”

When it looked like he wasn’t going to finish the sentence, Duke did for him “But part of you is far too civilised to even entertain such an idea.”

Nathan just stared glumly into his drink. “Perhaps that’s your problem,” suggested Duke as he finished his own drink and leant back in his chair. “And perhaps that’s not quite what you want in any case.” Duke leant forward then, resting his arms on the table as if to better study Nathan, “I think you wonder what it would be like to drop that control. And not to take someone like that, but to be taken yourself. I think you wonder what it would be like to have someone push you up against a wall and rip the shirt from your chest.”

Nathan looked up at him then. “I think you wonder what it would feel like to let them,” Duke finished.

Nathan didn’t reply, but he didn’t look away either. Duke leant further towards him and looked him right in the eye, his voice low and careful as he asked, “Wanna find out?”

Nathan coughed through his surprise and Duke turned away, grabbing his jacket as he stood up. “Yes, I mean it, but yes you should think about it. And when you’re not drunk either. Come back here tomorrow - sober - and we can get more specific. If you want. Now I gotta go; I have somewhere to be.”

-

When Nathan arrived at the bar the next night, he told himself he was just there to play pool, but he knew it wasn’t true. Duke was already there, engaged in what appeared to be a fairly serious game with an older guy Nathan didn’t recognise. So he ordered a beer he didn’t really plan to drink and sat at the bar to watch the game.

Except, it wasn’t the game he watched at all, but Duke. The way he moved around the table, the way his slim, toned body bent over it, the way his fingers spread across the green baize as he lined up a shot, the way the muscles in his back moved as he drew the cue back to take it.

As Nathan stretched out his beer, their best of three games turned into best of five. Nathan realised that on any other day he would be annoyed at the way they were hogging the table, but he wasn’t in the mood to play today anyway. The detective part of his brain wondered exactly what it was that was making them both so serious about winning and whether there could be something going on between them that he should be investigating. But he wasn’t going to do anything unless he actually saw something illegal and he knew Duke was too smart for that.

Because, while they hadn’t acknowledged each other, Duke clearly knew he was there. And as Duke leant over the other end of the table to line up an obviously impossible shot, his barely buttoned shirt fell forward giving Nathan a view of his chest right down to his belly button before he stood up to take a more realistic shot on the other side of the table. Nathan watched him, finding it hard to believe that wasn’t deliberate, wasn’t for his benefit. He picked at the label on his now long-empty beer before finally ordering another.

Eventually, they put the pool cues down and shook on a result. Possibly some money changed hands, Nathan didn’t look too closely, though he did make a mental note of the guys face before he left. Duke waited until the other man was gone before he walked up to the bar.

“Enjoy the view?” Duke grinned at him.

“Enjoy showing off?”

“Hey, I was just playing pool."

“And I was just watching the game.”

“Uh huh. Came to talk did you?” Duke asked and led the way to a dimly lit booth in a quiet corner. Nathan followed, feeling his heart pounding against his ribs as he went.

Twenty minutes later and Duke was gone again; _Somewhere I gotta be_. Who was he meeting at this time of night? Should Nathan be investigating? Should he be jealous?

He kicked the bench across from him in frustration. Duke Crocker was impossible. And now here he sat on his own at the end of the night (yet again), but with an offer for tomorrow that sounded at once nerve-wracking, slightly dangerous - and utterly compelling.

And so now, he had to get through a day at work with the Chief (with his father), criticising and questioning every little thing he did, while he tried not to be too distracted by the possibilities of the evening ahead of him, and tried not to wonder if that was stopping him from investigating things he ought to be investigating.

He took a final sip of beer and left, trying not to think about Duke’s hand spread out on the pool table or wrapped around the now-abandoned cue stick as he went.


	2. Whiskey

Duke was pouring himself a drink when Nathan arrived at the Rouge. “Whiskey?” he offered.

“Sure,” Nathan replied, but he lingered near the door with his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, apparently unsure if he was really staying.

Duke watched him as he took a sip from his own glass. “Like we agreed, this is just a game for tonight. We can both step out of our normal lives for a while. None of it will mean a thing come tomorrow.”

“Right,” said Nathan, a little defensive.

“So it’s fine to be nervous man. But you need to make a decision. If you’re staying, come over here and get your drink.”

-

Duke waited before Nathan had a couple sips of alcohol in him before he spoke again.

“You need a safe word.”

“I want you to stop, I’ll tell you to stop,” objected Nathan.

“No, Nate. That’s not how this works. You need a specific safe word, something incongruous like ... ‘marshmallow’ or ‘bubblegum’.”

“Fine,” huffed Nathan.

“OK, so pick.”

Nathan shrugged, “Marshmallows.”

“OK, marshmallows. So that means that you can say anything else, and I’ll keep going. You can tell me to stop, you can tell me ‘No’, you can say you hate me, that you’re going to kill me, arrest me, make my life hell, you can tell me it hurts, that this wasn’t what you asked for … you can say anything at all, whatever you want and it won’t make me stop. You don't have to worry about the words that come out of your mouth and I won't either. The only thing I’m going to take any notice of is ‘marshmallows’. Agreed?” he asked as he reached for the bottle again.

Nathan stared at him for a moment, then nodded. Intent on his drink, Duke didn’t appear to have seen him. “Agreed?” he asked again.

“Yes,” said Nathan.

“And if you say marshmallows, then we can stop completely, or we can talk some more, try something different - whatever. I mean - I won't hold it against you; if you want to say it, then I want you to say it.”

“OK.”

“But nothing I say tonight means a thing come tomorrow. Nothing you say either, besides that one word. It's just a game; say what you want. No consequences.”

“Right.”

And Duke looked him in the eye again then, held his gaze as he finished his whiskey and made a show of looking him up and down as he stepped around the counter towards him. He stood in front of him and took Nathan’s not-quite-empty glass to set it down beside them. Then he took another step forward, backing Nathan against the kitchen cupboards.

When Duke kissed him it was sudden, firm and insistent enough that Nathan kissed back without thinking. Duke pressed their bodies together, pressed their tongues together, and ran his hands from Nathan’s jaw to his shoulders and down his arms to his hands where they rested on the counter either side of him.

He kissed and he kept kissing, slow and firm becoming fast and hard. He pressed their hips together as Nathan kissed him back and then pulled out of the kiss just far enough to talk, “I think we’re going to have some fun,” he said with a grin.


	3. Cuffs

Nathan looked back at him, slightly dazed, and Duke took the opportunity for a sudden movement, pushing with his hands and with his legs, to turn Nathan around in front of him and hold his wrists behind his back. Pulling a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, he cuffed Nathan’s hands together and then pushed his body to Nathan's again, his erection pressing against Nathan's ass, pressing him into the counter from behind.

“I’ve been waiting years to get my hands on this cute little ass,” Duke said before spinning him back round and grabbing his belt. He stepped backwards, pulling Nathan with him and watching him closely the whole time. He saw Nathan’s surprise and said, “You think I'm going to jerk you off right here? I don’t think so; I'm going to make much better use of you than that.”

And by pulling at his belt and pushing against his arm, Duke maneuvered him across the room, not towards the bedroom as Nathan might have expected, but away from it, towards the corridor that lead to store rooms and the ship's hold. Duke grabbed his ass as they got to the door and Nathan stumbled, banging his shoulder on the door frame.

“Ah shit!” Nathan said in protest.

“Shut up,” replied Duke. He pushed Nathan back against the metal and held him there, stifling his noise of protest with a kiss.

They were evenly matched for size and strength, but with Nathan’s hands tied behind him, Duke had the advantage. Even so, Nathan pushed back as they kissed, pressing his body weight forwards against Duke’s hands, trying to move himself away from the door frame. In response, Duke pushed forward all the harder and moved his feet either side of Nathan’s using his legs as extra restraints.

For all that Nathan tried to shift his shoulder away from the door frame, he kissed back just as hard. Their kiss was deep and rough, tongues pressed hard into each other's mouths as their lips rubbed together, teeth clashing.

When Duke pulled back to look him in the eye, Nathan took the opportunity to speak, “Let me move you fucking bastard.”

“No.”

And Duke kissed him again, leaned closer against him, pressing Nathan’s shoulder into the edge of the door frame, pushing their hips together to feel Nathan’s erection press against his. Duke moaned into their kiss in appreciation. Nathan made one last effort to shift his shoulders free and then gradually stilled completely, letting himself be held in place, kissing Duke back all the while.

Duke rewarded him for his lack of protest by grabbing his crotch, fingers pressing against his erection as his tongue pressed into his mouth. Nathan moaned a deep expression of pleasure at which Duke pulled away from him altogether, turning the moan into an expression of surprise and protest.

“We were on our way somewhere,” said Duke, pushing Nathan in front of him, “Through the door at the end.”

“Fucking bastard!” Nathan responded in frustration, but he let himself be pushed down the corridor into what was some kind of store room; boxes filled the corners, chains and hooks were scattered and draped around to secure others.

Nathan took the view in with a frown. “What do you keep in here?” he asked.

“You,” responded Duke, pushing him back against the bulkhead with another kiss.


	4. Chains

Nathan pulled his weight forward, testing the strength of whatever it was that the handcuffs on his wrists were clipped to. Duke had somehow got him attached to the bulkhead when he wasn't looking (well, when he wasn't paying attention because of what Duke's tongue had been doing to his), and then he had stepped back giving Nathan a surprise when he'd tried to follow and found himself held in place. And then he'd left the room, with a quick “Back in a sec, don't go anywhere now.”

Having established he was pretty securely attached to the metal bulkhead that formed the room’s wall, Nathan leaned back against it, breathing hard. This was not exactly what he'd expected, in so far as he had known what to expect at all. Between the uncertainty of what was coming next and his (nominal) powerlessness in the face of it, Nathan’s blood was pumping fast through his veins and he could feel himself hard against his jeans.

The room he was in was, odd. On one hand, a windowless storeroom, on the other hand, it was surprisingly warm, there was a candle burning in the corner and a bathrobe hanging on the back of the door and what was … Nathan felt his analytical brain kicking in and decided he didn't like it. That wasn’t what he was here for. He closed his eyes and thought instead of the feel of Duke's mouth on his, the feel of Duke’s erection pressed against his ass, the feel of ...

-

A minute later, Duke walked back into the room and stopped when he saw Nathan stood with his eyes closed, head leant back against the bulkhead. He was breathing hard, his chest pushing against the white cotton of his shirt, and his erection was obvious through the demin. _He has no idea how beautiful he is_ , thought Duke, but also, _He likes the cuffs then, good._

Duke watched for a moment longer, before he stepped forward and dumped an ice bucket and old knife on the chest at the side of the room. Nathan opened his eyes at the noise and Duke grinned at him for a moment before pulling his sweater off over his head, revealing a tight black t-shirt.

“I was almost tempted to leave you there you looked like you were enjoying yourself enough. But I brought toys,” he said, sticking the knife in the ice, blade first. “I locked up too by the way. We won't be getting interrupted. And just so you know, you can shout as loud as you like down here, no one will hear you. No one will ever know.”

“Know that from experience do you?”

“This isn't a discussion about my experience. We're talking about tonight. We're talking about the things I am going to do to you and how loudly I am going to make you shout and scream before I make you whisper my name.”

Nathan huffed out an indignant laugh, “I don’t fucking think so.”

Duke just said, “I know you don't think you will. But we'll see.”

-

Duke’s kiss pressed Nathan into the bulkhead and all he could do was kiss back. From his shoulders to his ass he felt the metal hard and cool against him, the handcuffs and the hook they were attached to pressing into the base of his spine.

He let himself be held in place this time, concentrating simply on responding to Duke’s insistent kiss. Duke’s tongue filled his mouth it seemed, pushed against his as their lips slid past each other. He could taste Duke’s skin through the whiskey and he could smell him too, through a hint of aftershave and something that might have been incense.

He heard a little moan of pleasure without registering where it came from, then he heard it again and realised it was him. Duke seemed to take it as a signal to change what he was doing and his kiss became less urgent, softer and slower as he shifted his weight back and gradually let Nathan up from the bulkhead.

Nathan followed the movement without thinking, not wanting the kiss to end. The bulkhead fell away and his arms were pulled from his back as he shifted his weight forward. Duke found the point at the limit of Nathan’s reach and paused there. Their kiss now was by necessity soft and gentle, since Nathan could only just reach Duke at all. He tried to draw Duke to him with the kiss, but Duke stayed where he was, teasing alternate moans of pleasure and frustration from Nathan’s throat.

For Duke’s part, he didn’t want to move. He thought he could quite happily have spent hours like this, and that even if it all went wrong from here, this moment right now would be worth it. He’d always known kissing Nathan under any circumstance would be fun. But listening to the sounds he was making was something else.

-

Finally, Duke pulled out of the kiss, stepping back to look at Nathan who simply adjusted his balance to stand a little closer to the wall, arms no longer stretched out so far behind him.

“Let me see you,” said Duke, and stepped forward to grab either side of Nathan’s collar, ripping the shirt open with one sudden movement. Duke took in the view of Nathan’s exposed chest, as dislodged buttons landed on the floor with a clink.

“Fuck’s sake,” muttered Nathan. 

“You didn’t bother with your usual t-shirt underneath tonight; interesting.”

“Fuck you.”

“Would you like to?” Duke looked at him, head cocked to the side curiously. “Bend me over a pool table? Hold me down while you fuck me hard?”

Nathan didn’t reply, but Duke watched his breathing. “Well, I don’t think so. If anyone here’s doing any fucking, it’ll be me.”

Nathan felt his heart skip a beat (or two); whether due to desire or apprehension he couldn’t have said.

“I always knew you looked good,” said Duke, pushing the shirt further open, sliding the fabric over Nathan’s shoulders and halfway down his arms. He ran his tongue up Nathan’s neck, “Now I know you taste good…” He pressed his palms to Nathan’s shoulders, ran them down his chest and around his waist to his ass, “... and feel good. And you smell good too. But the best surprise is how good you sound when you’re having fun,” he added as one hand squeezed his ass, hard, and the other moved around to press against his crotch. “It makes me wonder exactly what kind of noises I can draw out of you.”

Nathan cut his moan of pleasure short at that, making Duke laugh, “Oh, what? Now that I’ve said that, you’re going to stay quiet? I don’t think so. That’s just going to make me all the more determined to see how loudly I can make you moan.”

“Fucking freak,” responded Nathan.

“Yeah, lucky for you. You thought this was going to be hard and fast, didn’t you? Over before you realised what was happening. I suppose you weren’t to know that’s not my style. I like to savour the moment. I could make this last for _days._ ” 

“Fucking freak,” said Nathan again, prompting Duke to press his mouth to him for another kiss.

When he let him up for air, Nathan commented, “Every time I swear at you, you shut me up with a kiss, is that it?”

“Seems to be pretty effective,” replied Duke with a sly grin.

“Fucking bastard,” said Nathan. And Duke left it just long enough to see a little grin form on Nathan’s face before he kissed him again.


	5. Let Go

Duke pulled his t-shirt over his head and dumped it on the floor in one fluid movement. “I wanna see you squirm,” he said and turned to the collection of ‘toys’ he had left on the chest in the corner. He picked up a candle and lit it from the larger one already burning. The flame fluttered with the movement as he stepped closer to Nathan.

“The best thing about this,” he said as he tilted the candle above Nathan’s shoulder, “Is the pretty pattern it’s going to make on that perfect chest of yours.”

The first drop of wax fell from the candle and landed on Nathan’s collarbone; dark red standing out against his pale skin. Nathan hissed through his teeth and Duke looked at him, waiting, a hint of a question in his eyes. Nathan just looked back though and after a moment, Duke moved the candle again, another drop of hot wax hitting Nathan’s chest, running down his skin to stop just above his nipple.

Duke rested his free hand on Nathan’s ribs, and ran it around to the small of his back, holding him almost tenderly as he continued to place drops of wax on his chest. After a while, his hand ran from Nathan’s back, down to his ass and around to his erection. He pressed his palm firmly against Nathan’s cock and even Nathan was not sure whether it was that or the next drip of hot wax on his skin that made him moan again.

When Duke stepped back as if to admire his handiwork, Nathan pulled forward against the cuffs, unhappy that Duke had moved away. In one sense, he could enjoy the wait. But in another sense, it wasn’t enough; he wanted more.

“What are you doing you bastard?”

Duke put the candle down and stood in front of Nathan again. “Every time I stop touching you, you swear at me until I do, is that it?” he asked, and he reached his hands to Nathan’s ass again, pulling their hips together.

“Seems pretty effective, you fucking cock,” joked Nathan.

“Now that just sounds like a request,” replied Duke before he kissed him again.

-

Duke turned back to the chest in the corner and took the knife from the ice, shaking a few drops of water off the long, thick blade. He turned to Nathan and stopped at the look of confusion on his face. “Relax, I’m not going to cut you,” he said. “I could,” he added. “I could carve my name into your chest, brand you as mine forever. But I'm not going to; I’m not interested in your blood. It’s completely blunt.” He ran the blade over the inside of his own forearm as proof. “It’s just for the cold,” he said. “As a contrast to the candle wax, you understand.” And he pressed the flat of the blade against Nathan’s nipple; smooth, cold metal that made him gasp.

“You’re just getting off on torturing me,” suggested Nathan a moment later.

“Well, yes,” agreed Duke. “But only because you’re getting off on it too.”

He ran the blunt tip of the knife over Nathan’s chest; just enough point left to it to leave a faint red trace on the skin in amongst the drips of wax. Then he pressed the flat of the blade against his skin again. Nathan hissed in a sharp breath of air and pulled his chest back a little way before his back hit the bulkhead. It wasn’t that he minded, exactly, it was just not - well, it was just not what he had come here for, in all honesty.

“Fucks sake, fucking bastard,”  said Nathan with feeling.

Duke pressed the flat of the knife against Nathan’s other nipple. The metal was starting to warm up now, but Duke pressed his hand against it, his skin touching Nathan’s and making a warm contrast either side of the blade. “Would you rather I kissed you?” Duke asked.

Nathan pushed forward as if to do just that, but Duke pulled out of the way, holding Nathan still with his weight on that hand on his chest. “Would you?” Duke asked again.

Nathan glared back at him and Duke moved away, plunging the blade of the knife back into the ice. “Two things,” he said, picking up the still-lit candle. “One, I’m not done making pretty patterns. Two, you need to ask yourself why you're here. Because, I get the control thing; I do. I get that this,” Duke gestured vaguely behind Nathan towards the cuffs, “works for you because you don't have to think about what you're doing, you don't have to acknowledge that you actually want what's happening. It works for you because you can pretend to yourself that you're still the fine upstanding citizen you're supposed to be, that you never let your barriers down.

“But tonight is supposed to be specifically about that. Tonight is about letting go, and letting someone else take control; having someone else decide what you feel ...” Duke ran his fingertips down Nathan’s chest, softly at first, then with a firmer and harder pressure as he bent his fingers so that his nails dug into Nathan’s skin, “... and of when you feel something,” he added. “And when you don't,” he finished as he pulled his hand away, all contact with Nathan’s skin broken. “If you can find a way to let go and relax into that, just for tonight; you are going to have so much more fun.”

-

Eventually, with half his chest and stomach covered in drips of red candle wax that had soaked in places into the denim of his jeans, and with finer red lines from the blade of the knife on his skin running across his chest, over, behind and around the drips of wax, Duke declared himself done with the knife, and put the candle out in the bucket of melting ice, standing back to look at Nathan and the way he'd marked him.

“God, just look at you,” said Duke to himself. He stepped in close, but Nathan didn’t get the kiss he was expecting. Instead Duke brought his fingers to Nathan’s belt buckle; darting over it, barely touching. Nathan felt a little sound of frustration leave his throat.

“I wonder if I could make you beg,” said Duke, sounding idly curious.

Nathan wondered too. He had a feeling Duke probably could. He had a feeling he would beg if Duke asked; he had a feeling he would say anything. He had a feeling he wouldn’t even mind.

Duke didn't ask though, just kissed him as he ran his hands all over Nathan’s body; neck, arms, stomach, back, and pushing under the waistband of his jeans down his ass as well. He touched every inch of skin he could get his hands on and Nathan soaked up the softer sensation of skin on skin after the empty hardness of metal and candle wax.

Then Duke made use of those handcuffs again, pulling slowly backwards so that Nathan followed him until he couldn't move any further, stretching to the limit of his reach so their lips just touched for the lightest kiss.

And then Duke moved another inch back.

Duke stayed there and watched him, eyes darting all over Nathan’s face. They were both breathing hard, and so close to one another Nathan could feel the warmth of Duke's skin, could practically taste him, but just couldn't reach far enough to touch.

“Duke …” Nathan whispered.

Duke didn't react for a long moment, then he responded in the same low voice, “I am going to have so much fun listening to the sounds you make as you come. But first I have another use for that pretty mouth of yours. I want you on your knees.”

Duke pulled a condom from his back pocket and reached for his own belt, watching Nathan for a reaction.

“Can’t kneel tied to the wall,” Nathan pointed out.

This was an obvious point, but even so Duke hadn't expected Nathan to make it; he hadn’t been sure he would agree to the idea at all. Duke stripped off the rest of his clothes and reached behind Nathan to undo the cuffs. His arms were by now pretty tangled up in the sleeves of his shirt and Duke put the condom on as Nathan pulled himself out of the fabric.

And then before Duke even realised Nathan was fully free, Nathan had turned on him, grabbing his arms, twisting them around, and slamming Duke against the bulkhead where Nathan had just been. The movement was sudden and unexpected enough that it took Duke completely by surprise and he found himself pressed against the metal wall by Nathan's fierce kiss.

Then Nathan dragged his fingernails down Duke's chest as he knelt, leaving faint red lines to mirror the ones Duke had left on him. Duke gasped at the sensation of nails against his skin as he realised Nathan was actually going to do what he’d hoped.

Nathan's mouth closed over him and his gasps turned to groans. He stretched his arms out to either side to find the cuffs he knew were hanging just exactly at shoulder height. He grabbed them and hung on, gripping tightly trying to keep his body still, helped by Nathan pressing his hands against his hips.

So far as he knew, Nathan didn't have much (if any) experience with guys, but he didn't care; it didn't matter. It was _Nathan Wuornos_ pressing his hips into the bulkhead of the Rouge and that was enough for him. And with all that build up too, it wasn't long before his groans turned to a shout as he dug his fingernails into his palms around his grip on the cuffs.

-

Duke pulled off the condom as he asked, “You ever go down on a guy before?“ 

“None of your fucking business,” Nathan replied as he stood up.

“Fair enough,” said Duke with a shrug. “Maybe I was making assumptions. I was just going to tell you that you did a pretty good job. And you might be interested to know that I have certainly had plenty of practice, and I know exactly what I'm doing.”

But to Duke's mild annoyance, Nathan wasn't entirely paying attention, “Lot of hooks for a wall,” he said. “Lot of handcuffs too.” He'd noticed the ones at floor level, as well as those Duke had been gripping on to. “What …?”

But Duke cut him off, “It’s a bulkhead and its design is none of _your_ business. I did leave the cuffs there for you though. It would be a shame not to use them. Take the rest of your clothes off and come here so I can strap you down.”

Nathan looked at him, breathing hard, and Duke looked back with an expression that said _Well? Isn’t that what you wanted?_

The moment stretched and Nathan said nothing, but he slowly reached for his belt and got undressed, kicking his remaining clothes into a pile on the floor behind him. He stepped forward to stand against the wall, and spread his arms for Duke to strap him in.

Duke took his time fastening the cuffs over Nathan’s wrists, brushing the sensitive skin on the inside of his arms as he did, keeping their naked bodies close as he stepped from one side to the other. Then he knelt to grab the floor level ones for Nathan’s ankles. “Move your feet further apart,” he said.

Nathan looked down and Duke held the cuff to show him how far from his foot it still was, waiting to see if Nathan would move, and half expecting him not to. But after a moment, he did, stepping his foot next to Duke's hands and then sucking in a big breath of air as the cuff closed around his ankle.

Duke shifted to Nathan’s other side, brushing his finger along the inside of Nathan’s thigh as he went. As he knelt again, Nathan stepped his other foot out to reach the cuffs. Duke grinned to himself as he fastened it, taking the opportunity for another light, fleeting touch, this time along the arch of Nathan’s foot. Nathan shivered at the almost-ticklish contact, and Duke took the hint, repeating the same light touch up Nathan's legs, over his chest, up his ribs and along his arms. Nathan swore softly under his breath and arched his back at Duke's fingers on his skin.

Duke stilled his fingers, watching Nathan breathing hard  He stepped back, touching Nathan only with his eyes. And for once Nathan not only didn't swear at him, but didn't seem to mind at all. He stood there with his eyes closed, head leant back against the bulkhead, arms strained against the cuffs, shifting his weight in his legs just to feel the fact that he couldn't move.

“Look at you. I could just step away and watch you enjoying those chains,” suggested Duke, only half joking.

“No.”

”No? That's it, no swearing?”

“Just … No.”

“But you're having such fun.”

“Not if you don't come back.”

“You want my hands on you? My lips? My mouth?”

“Yes,” said Nathan, opening his eyes to see where Duke stood.

“What do you want me to do to you?” asked Duke, taking half a step closer.

“Anything, just … something.”

“You want me.”

“Yes,” breathed Nathan softly, eyes locked now with Duke's. “Yes,” he said more firmly.

And Duke didn’t make him wait much longer after that.

-

As he closed his mouth over Nathan's cock, he dug his fingers into his ass, gripping muscle and skin and pulling Nathan close against him. He used his mouth and his tongue and every single trick he could think of to make Nathan moan and gasp for as long as possible, and he almost got hard again himself listening to the sounds the man made.

And in between the moans of pleasure, came the occasional muttered word, some of them even coherent. Duke heard a few muttered exclamations of “Fuck,” and “God,” and “Yes,” even once or twice a desire-laden “Duke.”

And so, Duke thought, he had almost managed to make Nathan beg after all, and he had no idea whether to be happy about this or nervous. Would Nathan regret it in the morning? Would he even remember the things he was saying right now? Would he take it out on Duke if did? There were lots of ways Nathan could make his life very difficult if he wanted to.

But as he heard Nathan moments from orgasm, and as he pushed him over the edge with his tongue, Duke could not really find it in himself to be worried, or to regret suggesting this. It had been all kinds of fun for him, and he knew for Nathan too. Maybe it would even do the man some good; help him loosen up a little.

And if they never did anything like this again, well, then this would just have to be enough.

-

Nathan picked up his shirt and a few more buttons fell from it at the movement. He looked at Duke who shrugged at him; half an apology, half an _Isn’t that what you wanted?_

“I can’t wear this out,” Nathan said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Duke began, “I think you’d look very …” but he stopped when he saw the look on Nathan’s face, and threw him his sweater instead. “Take this then.”

Nathan pulled it over his head. It wasn’t his style, but it could have been worse; it would get him home. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll bring it back.”

Duke shook his head. “Keep it; it looks good on you.” He watched as Nathan turned to leave, thinking _Why did you have to be a cop?_

Nathan was almost out of the door before Duke spoke again, “I meant what I said; we don't have to ever mention this and I won't bring it up. But if you want to play again, you just turn up here after dark wearing that and the same rules apply, no questions asked.”

Nathan held his gaze briefly, before acknowledging the sentiment with a curt nod. He had no idea in that moment if he would ever take Duke up on that offer or not. But he knew he would keep the sweater, just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At one point in its evolution the fic ended here, and that is still the end of the smut. The next chapter deals with the emotional fallout.


	6. Fallout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Includes reference to plot points from Season Two.

When Nathan got home, he pulled off the sweater and put it in an empty box. His jeans were covered in drips of candle wax, so he put them on top, folded so the wax was hidden. He put the box at the back of the wardrobe, underneath a load of the kind of random stuff that tends to accumulate at the backs of wardrobes, where it wouldn’t be seen and could be easily forgotten.

Then he got in the shower and scrubbed the trails of wax from his chest.

-

He woke up the next morning wondering if he had made a huge mistake.

For all that he wondered sometimes if it was really the right job for him, he was still a cop. And for all that it seemed like there might be a decent man underneath it all, Duke was still a smuggler who worked on the other side of the law. Cops weren't supposed to enjoy getting chained up by criminals - if Duke wanted to he could make his life very difficult, embarrassing at best.

But over the next few months, Duke had plenty of opportunities to make an issue of it and he never did. Plenty of chances to make an almost innocent sounding joke, or to just grin and catch Nathan's eye in a way that would have been significant. And once he must have been tempted to appeal to it in some way when he got arrested by someone else over what turned out eventually to be just a misunderstanding. But he never so much as raised an eyebrow. And gradually, Nathan started to feel like maybe trusting him hadn't been quite so reckless after all.

And so, time went by. He still played pool with Duke sometimes. He still threatened to arrest him sometimes. Occasionally he actually did. Work got a little easier after he caught a break and collared Nick McGuinness for smuggling computer chips. His love life persisted in not existing. Sometimes this still bothered him, sometimes less so.

And sometimes the prospect of whether or not Duke could be trusted seemed besides the point. Sometimes all his thoughts came down to was what Duke's lips had felt like on his. What Duke's tongue had felt like on his cock. What it had felt like to take Duke in his mouth. What it had felt like to be chained to the wall, to put himself in Duke's hands, literally and figuratively; to hand control for everything he that happened to him over to someone else. Or more specifically, to hand control for everything he felt over to Duke Crocker.

At the start, he had sworn and shouted and that had been easy and that had been familiar. But at some point he had stopped shouting _Crocker Bastard_ and started whispering _Duke_ instead. And sometimes, that fact didn’t scare him quite as much as he would have expected.

There were nights, when he lay in bed alone, where Duke was all he could think about. Where he knew he didn't want it to be the only time. And he'd wake up in the morning and wonder if going back for more would be worth it. And the answer to that veered from one to the other, and he gradually found himself spending more time thinking it would, and came more and more often to seriously entertain the idea of taking that sweater out of its box and driving over to the Rouge. One day, he got the box out, just to check the contents were still there.

And then Duke suggested a fishing trip.

-

Nathan accepted on the basis that it was fishing with an old friend and that was something he hadn’t done in a while. But he also accepted on the basis that it might give him an opportunity to ask if Duke was going to be home that night. He thought it might help him summon the courage to ask if Duke would be home alone.

When the coast guard turned up and Nathan realised Duke had played him, he was equal parts surprised, disappointed, angry, sad and ashamed at what he had trusted this man with. This man who was using him for his badge. This man who had been using him all along.

And when they fought, he put all of those conflicting emotions into his fists, but the satisfaction of realising he was winning was cut short by the horror of realising he couldn’t feel the punches. He couldn’t feel anything at all, and it didn’t go away.

Even if he still wanted to turn up to Duke’s after dark, it would be pointless now - he wouldn’t be able to feel any of it. He would never feel anything like that again, and the last memory of it he had, was of this man who had been playing him the whole time. The humiliation of that realisation was tied up with the memory of the last punches he felt, the last hands he had felt, the last lips he would ever feel.

-

He had trusted Duke with something, but for Duke it really had all been nothing but a game.

The first chance he got, he took the box from the back of the wardrobe and burned it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the second ending in the evolution of this fic, but there is one more: the next chapter takes a look at some possible longer term consequences from Duke’s perspective.


	7. An Ice Cold Blade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warnings: Non-canon major character death. Grieving.

There is an alternative end to this story. One in which the box did not get burnt, but sat at the back of Nathan’s wardrobe until he almost forgot about it.

It sat there unremarked as Nathan got on with being a cop and as he introduced an ex-FBI agent to his town. It sat there gathering dust as the Troubles ramped up and they learnt more about Audrey’s connection to them. And it got forgotten completely as Nathan fell in love and fought tooth and nail to save and hold onto this woman who meant the world to him.

And the box sat there too, as Nathan found himself, time and time again, working with Duke to help save their town. As he found that sometimes, when it came to things that really mattered (like Audrey’s life, or his own), Duke actually could be trusted.

And the box sat there, unseen, unnoticed and unremembered, as the Troubles finally ended. Haven was saved, it’s people were safe. But victory had come at a cost. Not everyone had lived to see this safe new world.

Audrey and Duke stood together at Nathan’s funeral and sat together in numb silence afterwards. It was a while before they found the courage to clear out his place. He didn’t have much stuff really, not once Vicky had been round to pick up the art supplies.

So it wasn’t long then until they were clearing out his wardrobe. Duke made a half-hearted joke that he would be tempted to keep some of the clothes for himself if they wouldn’t make him look like a cop. Audrey just squeezed his hand.

She pulled an old box out of the bottom of the wardrobe and handed it to him while she reached for something else. As Duke took off the lid and saw a pair of jeans, he wondered why they were hidden away in a box and not on the shelf with the others.

Then he pulled them out of the box and he noticed the drips of red candle wax along the waistband at the same time as he saw his old sweater folded underneath; so different from all the cop outfits they had folded up so far.

Duke froze. He didn’t breathe. For a long moment it seemed that his heart had stopped beating. Nathan had kept this stuff for all this time. Duke had always assumed Nathan had regretted that night. He had assumed it was part of the reason why Nathan had hated him and that the sweater had got binned the next day. And yet here it was, sat here still, all these years later.

Eventually his body kicked in and demanded he take a big breath in as it set his heart beating hard to make up for the gap. The breath came out in a sob as he fell to the floor. He remembered clearly how he’d told Nathan that nothing they said that night meant a thing. The problem was, that hadn’t been true. When he’d talked about having waited years to get his hands on him, about wanting to hear the sounds he made; Duke had meant every word. For all his talk of how it was just a game, the only part where he hadn't been truthful that night was where he'd implied he didn't care. He had never been able to tell Nathan that. He hadn't thought it mattered. He had thought Nathan wouldn't want to know. And yet, here this stuff was.

Audrey held him as he cried, but he knew that even if he’d been willing to break his promise to Nathan, he would never have been able to adequately explain to her what the contents of the box meant.

So he just sat there and sobbed for a long time, Audrey’s arms around him on the floor of Nathan’s bedroom, surrounded by various neat and cop-appropriate shirts, and a single crumpled, smuggler-appropriate sweater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END - for real this time ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you're glad you did, you can click Kudos to let me know. Or if there was something specific you liked I'd love to hear what it was: comment below or come chat [on tumblr :)](https://cookiedoughmeagain.tumblr.com/)


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